“W “is for Women's suffrage

“W “is for Women's suffrage. The earliest suffrage clubs in the state were not organized until the 1890s but suffragists were beginning to receive notice. Virginia Durant Young of Fairfax almost single handedly transformed the South Carolina woman suffrage climate in the 1890s. Through her weekly newsletter, Fairfax Enterprise, she championed prohibition and votes for women. In 1890 she and others formed the South Carolina Equal Rights Association. In 1919 the U.S. Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment and submitted it to the states for ratification. The South Carolina General Assembly overwhelmingly rejected the amendment:  the House of Representatives rejected the amendment 93 to 21, and the S.C. Senate 32 to 3. Following the national ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, the legislature passed a law giving women the right to vote but simultaneously passed another statute excluding women from jury duty.